This invention relates to electronic educational products and more specifically to speaking electronic educational products.
In recent years there have become available a number of electronic educational learning aid products, an early example of these being the Little Professor mathematics learning aid. This product presents mathematical problems to an operator by means of a visual display and the operator enters attempted solutions to the problem via a keyboard. The product then indicates to the operator the correctness of his response. In addition there has appeared a series of learning aids which have the additional capability of communicating to the operator by means of electronically synthesized speech. Examples of these include the Speak and Spell, Speak and Math, and Speak and Read electronic learning aids (each of the previously enumerated product names is a trademark of Texas Instruments Incorporated).
More recently there has been disclosed in Freeman U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,375, entitled "Manually Controllable Data Reading Apparatus for Speech Synthesizers", issued June 29, 1982, a new type of system which has the capability of communicating to the operator by means of electronically synthesized speech. This system is distinguished by the fact that the words that are to be spoken are identified to the system by the operator through the use of an optical code reading instrument. The code, which may comprise a bar code of the type that has been used by grocers on certain of their products, may typically appear on the pages of a book below a line of corresponding printed text. Thus, an operator, who may typically be a child seeking to gain reading facility, when he encounters words or phrases that he does not recognize, may pass the optical reading instrument over the corresponding coded material thereby causing the system to speak the word or phrase. It will be seen therefore that such a system comprises a powerful learning aid in that it will selectively provide for the student verbalization of those words and phrases which he does not recognize in the printed text. It will be appreciated that a learning aid with such capability may have application to students of a wide variety of ages including preschool students.
A problem, particularly with students of younger ages, is to provide systems which will not only be effective in imparting the educational content, but which will also provide an enjoyable experience so as to maintain the interest of the student. In accordance with the various embodiments of this invention, there is provided a code reading speaking learning aid of the type described above, which has a plurality of modes of operation so as to provide the student with variety and stimulation in the educational experience.
In a first mode of operation an operator passes the optical reader over a sequence of bar codes to identify to the learning aid the specific sounds to be reproduced. These individual sound identifications are then stored in a queue memory until the memory is full or the operator requests playback. At that time the sequence of sounds entered by the operator is reproduced by the synthesizer of the learning aid.
A second mode of operation is approximately the converse of that just described. In this case the operator initiates the action by wanding a specific bar code to indicate to the learning aid that the "random sequence" mode of operation is to be provided. Here the learning aid selects and produces an audible random sequence of sounds. The operator then seeks to duplicate this sequence of sounds by passing the optical reader over individual bar codes each corresponding to a sound which may be a member of the sequence. In the event of an erroneous entry, the learning aid advises the student to try again and when the correct sequence has been ultimately entered, the learning aid compliments the student. Finally, in a random number mode of operation, which is initiated when the operator passes the optical reader over a specific bar code, the learning aid audibly expresses a number which has been selected at random from an identified distribution. The specific distribution, as indicated by the bar code in a specific case, may be flat within a given range so that all members of the distribution have an equal probability of being selected. Alternatively, the distribution may be that corresponding to the total sum in the roll of two or more dice. As is well known, in the roll of two dice, for example, the probability that the sum will be seven is much larger than the probability that the sum will be two.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a speaking electronic learning aid which provides both interesting and effective educational experiences to an operator.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a speaking electronic learning aid which enables an operator to identify a sequence of sounds which is then reproduced by the learning aid.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a speaking electronic learning aid wherein the aid produces a sequence of sounds which the operator then seeks to duplicate.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide in a speaking electronic learning aid, means for generating a random number at the direction of an operator.